♪ hello and thank you for joining us on this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo with the latest at this hour. the japanese government says north korea has launched what's believed to be a ballistic missile. this is the third time pyongyang has fired a projectile this year. the defense ministry made the announcement friday afternoon. officials say the projectile likely fell into the sea use japan's exclusive economic zone.

the government has lodged a protest 30 diplomatic channels in beijing. north korea launched what are believed to be ballistic missiles from the northern province of chagan on january 5th and on tuesday. japanese chief cabinet sretary said the launches threaten regional peace. >> translator: north korea's actions, including repeated ballistic missile launches, threaten the peace and security of japan and the region. it's a serious issue for the international community. >> the u.s. indo-pacific command issued a statement on the incident, saying the u.s. commitment to the defense of the republic of korea and japan remains ironclad. for more analysis on the latest launch, kanako sachno earlier spoke to nhk world's former seoul bureau chief,

shohei. >> north korea has launched another projectile. what's your take on this one? >> the latest information is from the japanese defense ministry. they say probably the projectile landed outside the japanese exclusive economic zone. of course it's too early to know what they fired. but as we know, the north koreans have been firing what they call a hypersonic missile, that's a missile that flies way faster than speed of sound. it flies at a low altitude. it can change direction. so it's very difficult to direct the missiles by radar. the latest launch, they say that the leader, kim jong-un, was at the site and he observed the launch. now, we don't know if he did that, again. if he did, that would be a strong message to the north korean people that the supreme leader is on the site he's on, he wants to develop this missile.

>> so how do you think neighboring countries and the u.s. will react to this launch? >> well, first of all, the firing by north korea is a vice of multiple u.n. security council resolutions. japan, south korea, and the u.s. will certainly condemn the north again. on wednesday, the u.s. government imposed sanctions on six north koreans and one russian, accusing them of being involved in north korea's nuclear and missile programs. the biden administration is exploring ways to denuclearize north korea, but in the u.n. security council, china and russia are against strengthening pressure on north korea. they say the u.s. should understand north korea's claims that they have no choice but to develop their missile technology, as long as the u.s. maintains a hostile policy against them. i think that division within the u.n. security council is sending a message to pyongyang that they

won't face severe consequences even if they keep on firing -- test firing ballistic missiles. more than 20,000 new coronavirus infections were confirmed across japan on friday. the surge in cases attributed to the omicron variant is spurring authorities to consider how to maintain social and economic activity. it's the first time in over four months the daily tally has exceeded 20,000. the record daily total of almost 26,000 was set last august. 221 people across japan are in serious condition. 96 more than thursday. tokyo reported more than 4,000 new cases. the figure has increased by about 1,000 for three days in a row. the southern prefecture of okinawa has also been hit hard. officials confirmed nearly 1,600 cases on friday. the rapid spread has affected

many medical and essential workers there. one of the personnel at this fire station tested positive. six of his colleagues were judged to be close contacts and had to isolate. to cover their absence, the other firefighters now have to work 24 hours every other day, instead of once every three days. >> translator: we must maintain our capability to respond to emergencies at all costs. i know it's hard, but i'm asking the crews to hang in there. >> the government decided on friday to shorten the isolation period for people who have been in close contact with an infected person. until now, they've been required to isolate for 14 days. that's been cut to 10 days and even less for essential workers. u.s. pharmaceutical firm pfizer on friday applied to japanese authorities for approval of its packslovid tablets, indicating

packslovid reduces hospitalization by 89% if administered within three days of symptoms appearing. if approved, packslovid would be the second oral drug available in the country. the japanese government has agreements to treat 2 million people. experts are warning an explosive spread of covid-19 could overwhelm local health care systems. they'realling on people to get booster vaccinations as soon as they're available. moving now to the united states, where the supreme court has blocked the coronavirus vaccine mandate from the administration of president joe biden. the measure required large firms to fully inoculate employees or test them at least once a week. the mandate was aimed at businesses with over 100 employees and went into effect this month. over half of u.s. states appealed the requirement, calling it unconstitutional.

the measure was implemented by the occupational safety and health administration, which is under the labor department. in the decision issued on thursday the court said, although congress has indisputably given the organization the power to regulate occupational dangers, it has not given that agency the power to regulate public health more broadly. biden expressed disappointment in the ruling, saying the supreme court has chosen to block commonsense, lifesaving requirements. the president reiterated his call for companies to vaccinate their employees. infections have recently been at record levels in the united states, but just over 62% of the country's population has been fully vaccinated. this yr marks e 50th anniversary of t normalization of diplomatirelationbetween japaand chin onomic ts, but othe eping securi front japans

concerned about china's increasingly hegemonic actions. nhk world reports from beijing. >> reporter: confrontation is intensifying between china and the united states. beijing is hoping to strengthen relations with japan to prevent it from becoming more involved in the u.s.-led alignment against china. president xi jingping told the japanese prime minister kishida fumio in a phone call last october that he wants to use the 50th anniversary to kick off a new phase in bilateral relations. china hopes to further strengthen diplomat ties through rcep, a regional free trade agreement that came into effect this month in which both did countries participate. but a chinese expert on international affairs says the kishida administration is taking a tough stance against beijing on security and human rights

issues, along with the u.s. professor shi yinhong says there is almost no mood of celebration of the anniversary. >> translator: japan's strategic confrontation with china is extremely fierce in the military field, especially over the taiwan issue and the east china sea. japan says it will not take any specific action against the beijing olympics, but what it is actually doing amounts to a diplomatic boycott. >> on u.s./china relations, the professor says there is little chance that the biden administration will make make any concessions on major issues. that's because his approval ratings remain low ahead of midterm elections this fall. president xi is expected to accelerate moves to boost his authority at the communist party national congress later this year.

and that means continuing to take a tough stance toward the outside world. >> translator:n historical resolution was adopted at a plenary meeting of the party's central party last year, and a policy to counter the u.s. in a clear way was presented. there are very few points on which clear improvements can be expected in the relationship between china and the u.s. regardg major issues. >> professor shi says the status of taiwan is the most contentious issue. as the confrontation between china and japan's ally the u.s. intensifies, building a stable relationship between the asian neighbors is likely to be a major challenge.

two years have passed since the murder of a japanese medical doctor in afghanistan. nakamura tetsu had spent decades leading humanitarian efforts in the country. despite the return of the taliban to power, a young man from nakamura's hometown has been keeping his ideals alive. >> reporter: an organization in fukuoka is helping afghans restore farmland that has dried out. the group called itself peshawar-kai. it was founded in 1983 to support knack cure ra tetsu's activities in pakistan and later afghanistan. staffmembers continue to give advice to prevent food shortages and malnutrition. fujita chiyoko worked with nakamura for 30 years. five young staffmembers assist her.

>> translator: dr. nakamura said we need to hire people in their 20s because the afghan drought won't end soon. our mission will take at least another 20 years. >> reporter: yamashita hayato joined the organization eight months before nakamura's death. he heard a lecture by him and was inspired. >> translator: i was impressed by the amazing work that japanese people such as dr. nakamura were doing. that made me want to join them. >> reporter: yamashita consults in the pashto language. yamashita used a textbook that nakamura developed to learn pashto. now he can handle even technical terms.

thanks in part to his daily consultation, some orange trees are doing well and producing fruit. >> translator: i'm happy when the harvest is good. i hope to keep at this as best i can. >> reporter: the men's of peshawar-kai know they can't solve everything, so they follow the example of nakamura, doing what they can as long as they can. nishigata akane, nhk world. is. u.n secretary-general antonio guterres says the world is in a race against time to help the people of afghanistan. he once again asked for international cooperation. >> babies being sold to feed their siblings.

freezing facilities overflowing with malnourished children. people burning their possessions to keep warm. >> the humanitarian crisis in the nation is worsening. its economy is collapsing as its overseas assets remain frozen after the taliban's takeover last august. guterres stressed the need to pay public sector workers, including those in medical institutions and schools, to maintain social infrastructure. he called on the international community to unfreeze afghanistan's overseas assets. he added, women and girls are losing access to work and education and called on the taliban leadership to protect their fundamental human rights. moving now to the weather, so residents of australia are seeing dangerously high temperatures with the mercury surpassing 50 degrees celsius. our meteorologist jonathan oh explains the situation in our world weather report. >> hello. it is summer in the southern hemisphere, but we're talking about temperature numbers that

we haven't seen, well -- well, once before if we're talking about time. the all-time record across the southern hemisphere. look at this. thursday's high in western australia, 50.7 degrees celsius. that's hot. here's a look at video. yes, it was a hot day on thursday. we're still talking about some heat as we hit that big number, 50.7 degrees, the first time this century any australian location reached thatfy-degree mark. as i mentioned, the hottest temperature ever measured in the summer hemisphere. weather officials issued an extreme heat wave warning earlier in the week. well, right there, long-range weather forecast, hot, hot, and more hot. that actually is going to be the case. looking at the next 24 hours, the red color showing the temperatures in the 40s. overnight won't be in the 40s. once again going to the day on saturday, we're talking about the heat in place. up toward the north, we've been talking about leftover tiffany

moving over northern areas of australia. it's hanging around and continued to move with lots of rain associated. be on the lookout. we're looking toward another system, cody, moving toward the south. heavy rainfall as this storm comes your direction as we go into the first part of next week. looking at the forecast here, 40s in places like alice springs. thunderstorms toward the north. looking at 30 in sydney with some thunderstorms coming up on saturday. meanwhile, we're talking about plenty of snowfall here. some locations getting around 76 centimeters of snow. some locations seeing snow 2 to 3 meters on the ground. and we are talking about the snow starting to wrap up. we're still going to see some during the evening hours, but as we see this moving -- the flow moving down, we should be seeing things starting to clear up, and we should be seeing more sunshine as we go into the weekend. hope you have a good day wherever you are.

that wraps up this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. coming up next is "newsline" busy with ramin mellegard, so stay right there.

♪ this is "newsline biz." i'm ramin mellegard. china's total trade surge to the an all-time high last year. rising shipments to the united states and europe and surging raw material costs pushed the annual total to over the $6 trillion mark for the first time ever. china's customs authorities said friday the figure for 2021 spiked 30% for the previous year. exports jumped by around 30%

fueled by increased shipments of electronic devices and garments to the u.s. and europe, where economic activity rebounded for the pandemic. imports also rocketed about 30%. this was mainly due to higher prices of energy and raw materials. the export jump is bolstering china's economy, but the soaring raw material prices are weighing on businesses, contributing to an economic slowdown. the trade surplus for the u.s. grew by 25% from a year earlier to around $390 billion. the widening trade imbalance could be a source of further friction between the two countries. south korea's central bank has responded to surging inflation by raising its key interest rate back to prepandemic levels. the bank of korea held a policy meeting friday and increased the base rate by .25 to 1.25%. it is the third hike since last august. consumer inflation in the country last year jumped to 2.5% as prices rose faster than they

have in a decade. bok officials say the economy is on a recovery path and expect pressure to continue. the governor has hinted at a further hike. he said taking into consideration the price situation and the overall outlook, the bank's policy remains accommodative. british officials say they will start negotiations for a free trade agreement with india on monday. they say a deal could double britain's exports of whiskey, cars, and other products to the south asian country. following its exit from the european union, britain has been seeking to expand its economy by forging stronger trade ties with countries outside europe. the officials view a deal with india as a big step forward in a strategy to refocus trade on the indo-pacif indo-pacific. britain has signed trade agreements with australia and new zealand. it is in negotiations to enter the 11-member comprehensive and

progressive agreement for transpacific partnership, or the cptpp. tokyo's benchmark stock index plummeted on friday. investors have growing concerns that the u.s. federal reserve might speed up its interest rate hikes, which could affect the global economy. the nikkei average ended the day at 28,124, down nearly 1.3% from thursday's close. at one stage it had lost more than 500 points. investors unloaded shares almost across the board following declines in new york. a drop in long-term interest rates in the u.s. and a wronger stren against the dollar also prompted traders to sell export-related shares. the nikkei 225 has been volatile since last year, mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic. the bank of japan says the producer price index in december marked another big spike following november's four-decade

record jump. the central bank says the cost of goods traded among companies rose 8.5% in december from a year earlier. the figure has been climbing for ten straight months. costs rose for a greater number of items included in the index. companies are apparently passing on higher raw material prices. surging crude oil prices around the globe pushed up the costs of gasoline, electricity, and city gas. economic activity around the world is returning to normal after dropping during the pandemic. the rise in global demand meant japanese companies paid more for steel and other materials. the producer price index for the year 2021 rose 4.8% from the previous year. that pace was the fastest since 1981. the earliest year for which comparable data is available. sources have told nhk that mizuho financial group will promise regulators to make significant changes in its

hiring and deployment of staff, as well as to revamp its structure. the moves would be aimed at preventing a recurrence of a series of system failures that has plagued the group's operations. mizuho's pledges are in a draft business improvement plan to be submitted to japan's financial regulator next week. it says the group will secure personnel needed to ensure stable operations in line with the work volumes of its systems development and maintenance. the financial services agency has said staff reshuffling that neglected the needs of workers have weakened the system's operations. the group's draft plan says it will create a new structure after listening to feedback from employees at worksites on staff allocation and budget. it also pledges to review them flexibly. the draft touches on strengthening the system's management. it says it will create a mechanism to encourage mizuho's holding company, its bank unit, and a subsidiary that runs the system, to share information and

problems. it promises close cooperation among the three. now the draft plan says mizuho will focus on and review its system failures twice a year. it promises to continue conveying past experiences to the next generation. this would include distributing videos featuring employees discussing the glitches they have experienced. okay, let's see what's happening in the week ahead. we'll start with the latest gdp numbers from the world's second-biggest economy. we also expect policy decisions from two central banks. chinese officials on monday will announce gdp for the october-to-december period. the previous quarter saw 4.9% growth from the same period a year ago, marking the sixth straight quarter of expansion. the pace slowed from the 7.9% seen in the april-to-june quarter and the record 18.3% in the quarter before that.

the latest data will also include the full-year gdp number for 2021. and the government's growth target for 2022 will be announced in its activity report to the national people's congress that will convene in march. tuesday is decision day for the bank of japan. policymakers are expected to stay the course with its easing program. even so, many economists will be paying attention to boj's quarterly outlook. the officials are expected to revise their inflation forecasts upward in their three-year outlook to march 2024. but the numbers are expected to fall sort short of the boj's 2% target. turkish officials will also come out with a decision on monetary policy on thursday. turkey's central bank lowered a key interest rate in december, the fourth straight monthly cut, in line with the policy of president erdogan. but the moves triggered a drop in the lire and the prices of imported goods have soared. the annual inflation rate in

december sit 36%. the president pledged to keep lowering interest rates until elections scheduled for 2023. erdogan wants to keep borrowing rates low to stimulate the economy. he also believes that raising rates will increase inflation rather than control it. the turkish central bank's next moves will be attracting global attention. the latest consumer prices in the eurozone and japan will be released later in the week. the european union statistical office will revise december consumer prices for the single currency bloc on thursday. eurostat's early estimates projected an annual inflation rate of 5%, up slightly from 4.9% in november. rising energy costs are expected to push up inflation across the eurozone. prices in the region have already been rising while the spread of the omicron variant has dimmed business sentiment. how the european central bank

decides to handle the situation will be in the spotlight. friday it will be japan's turn to release december inflation data. the november cpi, excluding fresh food, was up 0.5% from the same months last year, marking the third straight month of rising prices. the increase was the biggest since february 2020. okay, let's get a check on the markets.

that's it for "newsline biz" from tokyo. i'm ramin mellegard. thank you very much for watching. ?o?■mm■ú oggcccccg

adrian: it is good to have you with us. inflation in the united states has increased to levels not seen in 40 years with the price surge affecting almost everything purchased by consumers and businesses. the white house is blaming disruptions to the global supply chain. >> when it comes to something like the supply chain challenges, those manifested more significantly than people were anticipating over the course of the summer and early fall, both because of covid factors but also